{"id":615,"date":"2021-11-30T20:54:58","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T00:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/?p=615"},"modified":"2021-12-25T17:13:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T21:13:23","slug":"blaze-foley-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/2021\/11\/30\/blaze-foley-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Blaze Foley Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tori: Welcome&nbsp;to Texan Music True Crime, the podcast where we talk about&nbsp;the stories and lives of musicians.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Blaze Foley - Clay Pigeons, rare Live\" width=\"1345\" height=\"757\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uM3YROq_cLY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Theme Song<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;I have received some feedback from listeners\/readers like you to do a session on Blaze Foley. Now, there was not a lot of information about Blaze.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"935\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3-1024x935.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3-1024x935.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3-300x274.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3-768x701.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3-1200x1096.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/ROGERS_photo_perf_photo_3.jpeg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Photo from Elliot and Janice Rogers courtesy of blazefoley.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;Born Michael David Fuller in Malvern, Arkansas on December 18&nbsp;1949. It is unknown when he moved to San Antonio Texas.&nbsp;In his youth, he was&nbsp;a&nbsp;member&nbsp;of \u201cThe Singing Fuller Family\u201d&nbsp;this likely&nbsp;was&nbsp;the birthplace of&nbsp;his musical talent. The&nbsp;band was a gospel band,&nbsp;made&nbsp;up of&nbsp;Foley, his mom,&nbsp;and&nbsp;his&nbsp;siblings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Fuller Family - A Little Crippled Girl&#039;s Prayer [1970s Gospel]\" width=\"1345\" height=\"757\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J1y54ifX5DA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>The Singing Fuller Family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;As&nbsp;a teenager,&nbsp;Blaze&nbsp;came to the&nbsp;conclusion&nbsp;that he wanted to go by a stage name. He decided on Blaze Foley, after two of his favorite artists. It is said that he worked&nbsp;and&nbsp;lived in Memphis,&nbsp;Tennessee before moving to Atlanta,&nbsp;Georgia.&nbsp;Come the&nbsp;70\u2019s, he was working&nbsp;at&nbsp;this&nbsp;place called the Banning Mill&nbsp;as a&nbsp;rhythmic guitar player for the house band. (Rolling Stones).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori: According to\u00a0a\u00a0Rolling\u00a0Stone&#8217;s\u00a0article I found,\u00a0the Banning\u00a0Mill is \u201cA converted yarn mill populated by local hippies, actors, musicians and others&#8230;\u201d The\u00a0article\u00a0goes on to\u00a0tell the story of\u00a0Foley meeting\u00a0the love of his life, Rosen,\u00a0at the Banning Mill.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/treehouse.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/treehouse.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/treehouse-300x213.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption>Photo from Sybil Rosen courtesy of blazefoley.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;Rolling&nbsp;Stone&nbsp;also tells the story of how Foley met John Prine. Foley and Prine&nbsp;were \u201cBackstage at the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta&#8230; but Foley was too shy about his own songwriting to mention it to the seasoned songwriter&#8230;&nbsp;In 2005, Prine\u2019s cover of Foley\u2019s \u201cClay Pigeons,\u201d appeared on his Grammy-winning&nbsp;<em>Fair and Square&nbsp;<\/em>LP.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Clay Pigeons (Live) - John Prine\" width=\"1345\" height=\"757\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u0TOuVVAwQI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>John Prine&#8217;s Version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;After Blaze met John, he moved around all throughout the country.&nbsp;Throughout this&nbsp;period&nbsp;of travel, Blaze&nbsp;began&nbsp;the long road down&nbsp;self-sabotage.&nbsp;Personally,&nbsp;I feel like this is something&nbsp;many&nbsp;performers&nbsp;eventually&nbsp;do.&nbsp;Feeling&nbsp;as if they do not deserve the&nbsp;life they\u2019ve worked so hard for,&nbsp;they begin to drown in their vices,&nbsp;and sometimes this leads to a very bad ending.&nbsp;The way he&nbsp;self-sabotaged&nbsp;was with&nbsp;alcohol.&nbsp;In 1977,&nbsp;Blaze&nbsp;wrote one of his more popular songs called \u201cIf I Could Only Fly\u201d. This song would get&nbsp;Blaze&nbsp;to travel back to Texas and&nbsp;open shows for&nbsp;Gurf&nbsp;Morlix.&nbsp;While opening these shows, Foley was eventually given a deal with Zephyr Records and&nbsp;officially&nbsp;released \u201cIf I Could Only Fly\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BLAZE FOLEY - IF I COULD ONLY FLY\" width=\"1333\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/69YCXgVdyR4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>&#8220;If I Could Only Fly&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;This was the&nbsp;song&nbsp;that&nbsp;kick-started&nbsp;Blaze\u2019s career, and I\u2019m sure that after hearing it you can understand why. While&nbsp;he was performing in New York, he met someone by the name of&nbsp;Townes Van Zandt. The two became close friends, with&nbsp;Townes really looking&nbsp;up to and&nbsp;aspiring&nbsp;to&nbsp;be like Blaze.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"690\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto-1024x690.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto-1024x690.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto-300x202.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto-768x518.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto-1200x809.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/RexTownesBlaze_UnknownPhoto.jpeg 1240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Photo from Unknown courtesy of blazefoley.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Townes Van Zandt &amp; Blaze Foley sing &quot;Snowin&#039; on Raton&quot; (1984)\" width=\"1333\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3ir4GLUavL8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen title=\"Townes Van Zandt &#038; Blaze Foley sing \"Snowin' on Raton\" (1984)\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Townes and Blaze Performing together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;Now that we know a little more about Blaze\u2019s career,&nbsp;let&#8217;s&nbsp;get into how it unfortunately ended.&nbsp;Blaze was known to couch hop. He never had a house of his own, but&nbsp;he was&nbsp;actually&nbsp;okay with that, as he&nbsp;preferred&nbsp;living and&nbsp;hanging&nbsp;with&nbsp;people&nbsp;instead&nbsp;of the grounding of a home address.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;he&nbsp;did somewhat&nbsp;settle&nbsp;in South Austin, and&nbsp;became good friends with Concho January. They lived near each other and sometimes Blaze&nbsp;would go to Concho\u2019s house and play music for him.&nbsp;Blaze was not a fan of how Concho\u2019s son would treat his father. Concho\u2019s son, Carey, spent his life in and out of jail. Carey and Blaze would go on to have a rough relationship. To the point that police were once called because Blaze hit Carey in the back of the head with an axe. Luckily it was not the sharp end and did not do a lot of damage.&nbsp;Blaze was very intoxicated during the fight&nbsp;and was arrested by the police. Blaze would go on to be told to attend AA meetings to stay sober. It is said that Blaze stayed sober for a little bit. But&nbsp;during&nbsp;the night of February 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;1989, he was not doing well at all.&nbsp;Blaze was traveling all throughout South Austin drinking and&nbsp;hanging out with friends. He had one of his friends drop him off at Concho\u2019s house&nbsp;around 5am. Ever since the fight with Carey, Blaze would have to ask before showing up. At&nbsp;Concho\u2019s house, there was Blaze, Concho, Concho\u2019s friend and Carey, who was in his bedroom.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;Concho, Blaze and Concho\u2019s friend were&nbsp;having a nice time&nbsp;hanging&nbsp;out&nbsp;together,&nbsp;when&nbsp;Carey came out of his room. Carey and Blaze got into an&nbsp;argument, although&nbsp;it is unclear about what. Next thing that happened, Carey pulled out a gun and shot Blaze.&nbsp;I was able to find a police report from when they interviewed Concho&nbsp;right after it&nbsp;happened. In the report, Concho says how Carey shot Blaze for no reason and ran out of the house. He also goes on to say how he thinks his son is crazy and has a very bad temper.&nbsp;I think this piece is very interesting and shows a lot of detail to what had happened the night Blaze died.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"878\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/image-15.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-617\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/image-15.jpeg 878w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/image-15-257x300.jpeg 257w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/files\/2021\/11\/image-15-768x896.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 878px) 100vw, 878px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori: There are conflicting reports on&nbsp;whether or not&nbsp;Blaze&nbsp;died instantaneously&nbsp;Some articles said&nbsp;that right&nbsp;before he passed, he told the police that Carey did it.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;in these articles, it also states that Carey was in the house.&nbsp;For me, I&nbsp;would like to believe Concho\u2019s report since he was an&nbsp;eyewitness.&nbsp;As you can imagine, Carey was&nbsp;soon&nbsp;taken into custody and arrested for Blaze\u2019s murder.&nbsp;Eventually there was a trial for the murder,&nbsp;and it\u2019s said that Concho was a witness for the state and testified against his own son.&nbsp;There was not a lot of information on the trial that I could find.&nbsp;In another&nbsp;article, it states that&nbsp;\u201cThe jury deliberated just over two hours before finding Carey January not guilty for first-degree murder by reason of self-defense.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori: Now I know what you may be thinking:&nbsp;\u201cHow was he found not guilty?\u201d Well, there was an&nbsp;eye witness&nbsp;that proves he was the murderer.&nbsp;I am not completely sure how he was not found guilty but an article&nbsp;states&nbsp;\u201cThe elder January,&nbsp;whom&nbsp;defense attorneys dismissed as \u201can old fool\u201d and \u201cthe world\u2019s most reliable drunk\u201d&#8230;\u201d. Maybe the jury believed what the defense&nbsp;attorney&#8217;s&nbsp;words.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;Unfortunately,&nbsp;Blaze was not the&nbsp;wealthiest&nbsp;of men, so&nbsp;there were issues when it came to covering his&nbsp;funeral costs.&nbsp;But&nbsp;Blaze&nbsp;recorded a cassette before he&nbsp;died, and&nbsp;had planned to&nbsp;give the profit to a&nbsp;charity that helps the homeless.&nbsp;But his friends decided the money should go to cover his funeral costs.&nbsp;They even&nbsp;went on to record his music and&nbsp;release it for him.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/fcd7a11f-c045-48da-bf12-6a94c6139fe9\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tori:&nbsp;While&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;always terrible&nbsp;to see such talented people&nbsp;become&nbsp;lost&nbsp;before they have a chance to really make an impact, Foley\u2019s&nbsp;music lives on&nbsp;in his memory, allowing us to&nbsp;continue to enjoy it&nbsp;to the fullest.&nbsp;Unfortunately,&nbsp;this is a similar&nbsp;story for&nbsp;many&nbsp;Texan Musicians, and it is certainly not the&nbsp;last&#8230;.&nbsp;Until next time,&nbsp;with&nbsp;Texan&nbsp;Music True Crime.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Works Cited&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Betts, Stephen&nbsp;L. &#8220;Who Was Blaze Foley: Inside the Life of Enigmatic Texas Songwriter.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Rolling Stone<\/em>, 31&nbsp;Aug.&nbsp;2018,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/blaze-foley-movie-biopic-songwriter-ethan-hawke-718036\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/blaze-foley-movie-biopic-songwriter-ethan-hawke-718036\/<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Blaze Foley: Killing of a Songwriter.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>MichaelCorcoran.net<\/em>, 26&nbsp;Jan.&nbsp;2021,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelcorcoran.net\/blaze-foley-killing-of-a-songwriter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.michaelcorcoran.net\/blaze-foley-killing-of-a-songwriter\/<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Images.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Blaze Foley<\/em>, 22&nbsp;Nov.&nbsp;2017,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blazefoley.com\/images\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.blazefoley.com\/images\/<\/a>. Accessed 29&nbsp;Nov.&nbsp;2021.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Music.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Blaze Foley<\/em>, 30&nbsp;Oct.&nbsp;2020,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blazefoley.com\/music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.blazefoley.com\/music\/<\/a>. Accessed 29&nbsp;Nov.&nbsp;2021.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tori: Welcome&nbsp;to Texan Music True Crime, the podcast where we talk about&nbsp;the stories and lives of musicians.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tori:&nbsp;I have received some feedback from listeners\/readers like you to do a session on Blaze Foley. Now, there was not a lot of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[218,219,220],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-texas-creativity","tag-blaze-foley","tag-podcast","tag-true-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}